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Thursday, January 29, 2009.

From Creamer Media in Johannesburg, I'm Shannon O'Donnell.

Making headlines today:

On Wednesday, the world's third-largest platinum producer, Lonmin, reported lower first quarter production figures. The company also announced that its chairperson, John Craven, would retire.

Lonmin stated that the PGM pricing environment had remained challenging in the first quarter of the 2009 financial year and would remain so in the short-term.

However, the London and Johannesburg-listed miner said that it remained committed to its sales and cost guidance for the 2009 financial year.

Canada's Barrick Gold, the world's top gold producer, has closed its Kainantu mine in Papua New Guinea.

The move comes 13 months after Barrick bought the mine from Australia-listed Highlands Pacific for $141,5-million in hopes of tapping more of the South Pacific island nation's vast undeveloped mineral wealth.

The mine was being placed on care-and-maintenance pending a view of its long-term viability.

Barrick had long been disappointed with the low grading of the gold-bearing ore at the mine.

Also making headlines:

Ferrochrome producer Merafe Resources says its 2008 profit could reach R1,1-billion.The government of Kazakhstan will offer miners tax cuts to avoid layoffs.TSX-listed Atna Resources expects its first gold production in April at its Californian mine.And, Australia-based Riversdale Mining appoints a law expert to its board.

That's a round up of news making headlines today. For more on these and other stories please visit miningweekly.com.

By: Terence Creamer
State-owned power utility Eskom, which halted its demand-side management (DSM) interventions last year owing to funding uncertainties, reports that some of the programmes will be restarted this year and that a savings target of 975 MW has been set. Speaking at a Fossil Fuel Foundation conference on Wednesday, senior GM for integrated demand management Andrew Etzinger reported that R1.7-billion had been set aside for the programme. →